Picket fence section



B. M. RANDALL PICKET FENCE SECTION Filed April 1, 1947 Dec., llf 1950 l Invenoft Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES A''ENT OFFICE.

2 Claims.

This invention relates to in'lprovementsv in ramose structural elements of sheet material and in methods of producing them economically from a sheet having predetermined dimensions. More particularly it relates to ramose elements which may be fashioned economically from a sheet of plywood or other sheet material, and which easily and quickly may be assembled together and be staked to the ground to provide a straight picket fence of any desired length, or which may be assembled as a circular enclosure of any desired circumference around a ower bed or the like. rlhe invention provides so that a stock size sheet of plywood will produce two fence sections and two fence rail sections, utilizing the entire initial sheet or panel with total avoidance of any waste. However, it should be understood that the ramose elements produced according to the invention, in suitable sizes, may have any of a Variety of other uses, such as in the manufacture of baby pens, as racks for numerous purposes, and as the head of a rake when one of the ramose elements is suitably equipped with a handle.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a method of producing ramose structural elements having multiple integral uniformly dimensioned and spaced branches which may constitute pickets of a fence, supporting members of a rack, or teeth for a rake or the like, said elements being fashioned from a sheet or panel of plywood, for example, with complete utilization of the entire area of the sheet or panel.

Another object is to provide ramose structural elements whose terminal portions are adapted to be butted and secured together to provide a fence or the like of any desired length and having uniform coniiguration from end to end of the fence.

A further object is to provide a method whereby two identical sections of picket fence and two identical fence rails may be cut from a panel of plywood of predetermined rectangular shape and size with complete utilization of the stock of the panel and with the end portions of the fence sections adapted to be butted together without interruption of the continuity and uniformity of the fence structure.

Yet another object is to provide plywood fence sections, each comprising multiple pickets integrally joined together along the base of the section and each having at least one stake pivotally secured to its base at an end of the section and adapted, when depending at right angles to the base, to project beyond the section for securement thereto of a next adjacent fence section.

It is, moreover, my general object and purpose f inches long.

2 to provide an improved method and a ramose structural product which have particular utility for the manufacture of sectional picket fences capable of quick and easy assemblyl and installation.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a stock size panel of plywood having dotted line indications thereon of the lines of cutting for producing two fence sections and two fence rails in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view showing three fence sections assembled in end to end relation with the fence rails and stakes mounted on the sections;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view oi a fence assembled and installed in circular form; and

Fig. 4 illustrates how one of the ramose sections, of suitable size, may be employed as the head of a rake.

Referring to the drawings, the blank lll of Fig. 1 preferably will be a stock size panel of plywood which may be forty-eight inches long and twentyfour inches wide, for example. The number of plies and the over-all thickness of the plywood may be varied as desired, although I have found that a three-ply panel one-quarter of an inch thick adequately serves my purposes. The panel preferably should be of the sort recommended for exterior use which ordinarily will be specially treated during or subsequent to manufacture to withstand weather conditions.

According to the invention, the blank IB is cut to provide two identical ramose elements, each of which has multiple branches, or pickets or teeth integrally connected together along one edge of the element. When the ramose elements are to constitute sections of a picket fence, two similar strips I 2 preferably will be first out from the blank I0, as along the dotted lines I3 and ll in Fig. 1, to provide two identical fence rails. The strips l2 are cut lengthwise of the panel l0 so that, assuming a panel forty-eight inches by twenty-four inches, each strip will be forty-eight The width of the strips may be varied as desired but-I prefer to make them one and one-half inches wide. This removes three inches from the width of panel lil which, in the case of a twenty-four inches wide panel It, leaves a panel twenty-one inches wide and forty-eight inches long, from which two fence sections are to be cut.

The fence sections may be cut along the continuous dotted line l5 by a band saw if desired. However, for economical mass production of the driving of the stake. "in each stake tofacilitate the securement there- 3 fence sections, it is desirable to die-cut the panel on the dotted line I6 thereby to quickly and effectively produce two fence sections with each working stroke of the die.

As clearly evident in Fig. 1, the lower edge portion of panel I constitutes the base portion I8 of one fence section from which pickets 2B project integrally in spaced relation, and the upper edge portion of panel I0 constitutes a base portion I8 of another fence section from which pickets 2B project integrally in spaced relation. The intact base portions I8 may be three inches wide or deep, for example, so that each picket 2E will project fifteen inches from its base portionin the assumed case of a panel initially twenty-four inches wide reduced to twenty-'one inches-Wide by removal of strips I2, I4. In such a.case,.there may be twelve pickets on each section each two inches wide and with two inch spacing ofthe pickets.

.The complementary arrangement of'the two lfence sectionswinathe panel I8l ofr'Fig. l isisuch :zthatone'endofieaoh section terminatesin the plane of thel outer-edge of'fits end-most :picket and the other end has its base portion I8 extending, as at' beyond' its end-most `picket to the @plane of .the outer edge of the end-most picket civ the complementary section, so that the 'two fence sections produced fromfa panel i0 are 'in-every respect Aidentical':with a base projection I 9 adapted to be butted against the end of lan adjacent section in Vthe plane of the outer edge of theV end-most picket-of -theadjacent section ywhen Ythe sections are associated-together with their base portions I8 in alignment', eachlsaid butted projection Y I S serving' to properly space the end-host pickets of adjacentsections and 'providing continuity and uniformity of the fence jan end-most picket,. as,at22,'at"that erid'ofy the section which is free of a base projection'ISI The other end of the rail projectsbeyond the .erid=1nost picket of the section enough to stand centrally of the end-most picket of .an adjacent r .fence section wherevit abuts the centrally placed end of the rail I2 of` theadjacentisection. The rails i2 maybenailed or. otherwise secured to f eachpicket'across which they extend. Iprefer,

however, to'secure that end of each rail` I2y which .ispositioned centrally ofvapicket on its section i bymeans of-a screw 24,..and to provide the oppositenend of-each rail with la hole 26 -so that it too may be secured `byy a screw `.when the sections are combined insa fence.

The fence sections may be staked tothe ground Ainany'suitalole 'mannen but I preferably equip --each fence section with at least one stake 2B Awhich:conveniently is, pivotally'secured `as at 30 to the `base extension I9. As illustrated in'v Fig. 2,

'each stake is swingable on its Apivot 39.y between theV dottedand. full line positions 'shownl inf'Fig.

Y'2 and, when swung to its position@projecting generally at rightangles -to the base line of the i sections, a substantialrportion of the stake is in position to overlap the base portionV of theadjacent section, so that this latter section maybe quickly secured to the stake either before or after A hole VS2 may be provided to of an adjacent section by a screw or nail or any other securing means.

When the fence sections are combined to provide a straight fence, one end-most fence section will require a stake at each end thereof, and this extra stake may be similar to the stakes 28 or may be any suitable staking device secured to or securable to the section.

It is a feature of the invention that the fence sections have resilient flexibility lwhereby they readily may be i'iexed to provide arcuate, sinuous or circular fences as may be desired. In

the case of a plywood panel I9, the two surface ,plies will have their grain running in the direction of extent of the pickets 20. This provides desired stillness and rigidity for the pickets, which are additionally strengthened and tied together by the rails I2, and provides a desired degreeof flexibility of the base portions I8 and the rails whereby the sections may be readily fexed to arcuate shape longitudinally, thereby to enable associated sections to be arranged and #staked in various shapes, such as in a circle,

as represented in Fig. 3.

`When the fence rails I2 are out from a plywood-panel Eil having three plies of which the two outer plies have their grain extending in the direction of extent of the picketslZl, it will beobvious that the grain of the two outer plies of the rails I2 will extend crosswise of the rails. This -provides great iiexibility for the rails, yet the center ply `introduces needed strength against breaking when the rails are flexed. Actually a four foot section'cf fence as herein described, with a'fence rail IZ'thereon, may be formed by flexing intol a relatively small complete circle which may surround a bush or the like, In such a case, in .addition to the post 28 at the juncture of the two ends of the section, an additional post 28 will be located at amid- Vlocation between the ends of the section.

'It willbe obvious that the fence sections, each complete Vwith attached rail and pivot-ed stake, conveniently. and compactly may be stacked in generally flat condition with the stakesY 28 swung out ofprojectingl position. Orders for any .particularlengthcf tencev quickly and conveniently lmayfbe lled by selection of the required number offence. sections. A fenceeasily may be installed -without'nced for any particular skill withthe aid of a'hammer to drive the stakes and a screw-driver tcdrive two screws at each vjunctureof fence sections; or the sections may be secured by .nails in which case only a ham- -mer will be necessary.

While the ramose elements as herein disclosed have a .particular utility as sections of picket fences, they `may `be employedas racks for various purposes, and -.a single element inproper size may serve effectively as the toothed head of arake as illustrated in Fig. 4 where the-ramose element has a handle secured thereto by a suitable bracket 38.

I claimas my invention:

1. A picket fence section readily combinable with lother similar sections to constitute'a fence,

' said section being the total residue of a rectangular plywood :panel from which an identical fence section was removed, and comprising an intact "base portion extending from end to end of the section, a `rnultiplicityof uniformly 'dimensioned ypickets integrallwith said base port'on and projecting therefrom in parallelism with thespace betweeni pickets equal tothe width .of a picket.

said base portion having one of its ends in the plane of the outer edge of one end-most picket and having its other end projected beyond the other end-most picket a distance equal to the width of a picket, a stake pivotally mounted on the said projected end of the base portion and swingable between a position where every portion thereof overlies the base portion and a position where it projects a substantial distance generally at right angles to the base edge and also projects beyond said projected end of the base portion for attachment thereto of an adjacent fence section.

2. A picket fence section readily combinable with other similar sections to constitute .a fence, said section being the total residue of a rectangular plywood panel from which an identical fence section was removed, and comprising' an intact base portion extending from end to end of the section, a multiplicity oi' uniformly dimensioned pickets integral with said base portion and projecting therefrom in parallelism with the space 'between pickets equal to the width of a picket, said base portion having one of its ends in the plane of the cuter edge of one end-most picket and having its other end projected beyond the other end-inost picket a distance equal to the width of a picket, a stake pivotally mounted on the said projected end or" the base portion and swingable between a position where every portion thereof overlies the base portion and a position where it projects a substantial distance generally at right angles to the base edge and also projects beyond said projected end of the base portion for attachment thereto of an adjacent fence section, and a rail strip having one end secured to the end-most picket whose outer edge is in the plane of an end of the base portion with the end of the strip on the center-line or the picket, said rail strip extending thence right-angularly across all of the other pickets and projecting beyond the other end-most picket a distance equal to one and one-half times the width oi a picket whereby it extends to thel center-line of the end-most picket of an adjacent fence section, said rail strip being secured to each picket of the section.

BOARDMAN M. RANDALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 17,848 Shetter July 21, 1857 197,875 Marks Dec. 4, 1877 213,859 Atkinson Apr. 1, 1879 222,417 Miner Dec. 9, 1879 320,978 Sibley June 30, 1885 968,908 Williamson Aug. 30, 1910 2,382,208 Corbin Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 609,971 France May 25, 1926 

